The next person that tells me that.....!!!
"I suppose now you'll be moving into your garage."
"How does it feel to have a garage bigger than your house?"
If I have to hear either of these statements ONE MORE TIME, I'll go postal!!
These statements are a result of prejudice. You see, our home is a 16x76 mobile home.
20 years ago, Wednesday, we purchased our home for $25,000. We moved it onto 10 lots of our own land, 2 miles from town. We have city water and sewer, and cable TV and internet. Our house is built of 2x6s, which gives us R-19 insulation in the walls, and R-22 in the double floors, and ceiling. We have high effeciency vinyl windows with separate combination storm windows. We have landscaped with evergreens on the north side of our house, and deciduous trees on the south. 11 years ago, during a stretch of 100 degree weather, we equipped our home with central air conditioning. Our house is VERY economical to heat and cool. WHY would we move into our garage, which is constructed of 2x4s and has a concrete floor?!
When we bought our mobile home, we thought we'd eventually build a bigger house on our lots. We looked at thousands of floor plans, and NEVER found one that we liked as well as our current home. NONE of the bedrooms and kitchens, in these floor plans, were as big as ours!
Our kids' bedrooms are 12x12 with HUGE closets. Our bedroom is 12x15 with a walk-in closet, and master bath with a garden tub. The kids' bedrooms and full bathroom are at one end of the house. Our bedroom is at the opposite end, with the living room and kitchen in between. Our kitchen has 22 feet of counter, with upper and lower cupboards all around. We also have a separate laundry/storage room.
What DON'T we have in our house? We don't have a formal dining room and a separate living room and family room. Our living room IS our family room. Our kitchen is the heart of our home. We prefer an "eat in" kitchen. We don't have a foyer. Why should we heat, cool, and CLEAN space that we'd NEVER use, like a foyer, formal dining room, and formal living room?
With the declining economic conditions in our town, we're happy that we didn't build a bigger home. Why? Because EVERYTHING we own, other than 1/2 of the garage, is totally PAID FOR! How many of the people, who ridicule our home, can say that?
By the way, our garage has 896 square feet of space. Our home has 1216 square feet of space. Yes, our home is bigger than our garage. SO THERE!!
posted by tshsmom @ 2:41 PM
23 comments
23 Comments:
Hey, what's wrong with a concrete floor?! Heehee.
There's some people in our hood with huuuuge homes and I wonder what it must cost to heat them, and whether or not they actually use all the space they have. You have what you need right?
They just built one of those "master planned communities" in my town (crowding the beach and making traffic a complete nightmare and reducing/destroying natural habitats and watersheds). Driving through there in the am, all I see are hired hands: gardeners, cleaners, pool maintenance, babysitters. People who own the houses are off working their fingers to the bone paying for them. How much happier would they be in a smaller space spending time together rather than "outsourcing" family?
SME, your concrete floor isn't on the GROUND!
Laura, we're an oddity in today's society...we're happy with what we've got. ;)
Euro, I'm WAY too independent to EVER live in one of those planned communities!!
You're soooo right. You can't buy the joys we have in our simple life.
Tshsmom, you guys are cool. And smart.
Planned communities suck.
Do you have any 2 x 4's left over to smack the dummies with?
Want any help?
Tonzahugs ((((((hugs))))) from your bud, ND
ND, we've got a couple of 10 footers left; one for each of us(if you hurry). ;)
Wow...getting feisty there!
I suppose you don't have a new SUV that you traded your two-and-half-year old one in on and that you'll be paying for till you decide you just can't possibly live with an SUV that's not bigger/cooler/newer/more expensive than the neighbor's either...huh?
Thank goodness there's at least a bit of sanity up there in the Northwoods. You help restore my faith in humanity.
The last 3 monyhs of winter,(you may now laugh) in our present home has cost 419 dollars more for elect than in our other home last year. Reason is we dont have the wood fire that I slaved for; cutting and carrying emptying and cleaning, I am not saying we are warmer, but I have far more time for other things and myself.last night a very cold 5Cel, a sort of stay in bed cuddly night, got up at ten thirty this morning, nearest and dearest had gone shopping, with her friend (fem).
There's a lot to be said for living within your means. Our government and a large portion of our country would be wise to follow your example. I've never envied the "McMansions" that we have around here. The only houses I envied were the old family homes in our downtown area. We now have one, which is big enough for our family, and we don't need anything larger. We're actually planning to move to a smaller home once the last kiddo leaves for college. Ignore the comments, it's sounds like you're doing just fine in the home you have.
There's something to be said for owning your home outright. H and I have been talking with realtors who try to talk us into looking at properties that are quite obviously beyond our means. For some people, the most important thing is to profit off of someone else's misery (misery = ungodly mortgage payment).
You sound like me. I can't stand when people make comments like that. It's like they never learned the rule: If you can't say something nice--don't say anything at all.
It's so simple!
Shawn, howdy stranger!
With all the home improvement and landscaping we do, we NEED a truck. We just got our first 4WD truck, 3 1/2 yrs ago, and we're still thrilled with it. We had our previous truck for 13 yrs.
I don't know if we're sane or not, but with our income, we have to get every bit of enjoyment out of everything we buy!
Vest, they say when you cut your own wood, it warms you twice. ;)
+5C?! That would be a nice spring day here! That's above freezing for crying out loud!
VV, our budget deficit drives me WILD!! I've always said that we need poor people, like me, in our gov't. I could show those idiots a thing or two about balancing a budget!!
Notta, I would NEVER make it as a realtor for just that reason!
LOL Sadie!! I'm ALWAYS saying that!
I just noticed you're on a TS webring! Cool!
SME, where have you been? I've been on that ring for over a year. The head of it invited me to join.
It's not much to brag about since the guy doesn't maintain the ring very well.
Hmm! I need to look at the bottom of blogs more often. ;D
you go! I'm in the process of buying a mobile home, on a foundation, its own lot with green grass, a fence, a wonderful studio in the back, a garage, a neat storage building with a cement patio - I'm going to live in all of it - at least until I can convert the studio with potty, shower, sink and rent it out to pay it all off soon!
best place I ever lived was the mobile home we bought when we were first married. Nice park too, till the folks from down south started to move in and ruined it all.
You've got a nice livable place and 10 acres, PAID FOR, which means you won't have to eat dog food when you are retired and living on SS. sounds wonerful to me! Now...
how about renting me your garage?
A 16x76 mobile home is not small by mobile home standards. Does that make it a double-wide? What do people think modular homes are, anyway?
It sounds like it's sturdy and easy to heat in those cold winters. Then, of course, there's the part about having almost everything paid for. So many people get themselves so deeply into debt. It seems to be the norm. Some of us don't want to be the norm, and that's a good thing.
Thanks Diana!
I've always believed that it doesn't matter where you live, as long as you make it a HOME. Everybody needs a safe refuge, away from the world. ;)
GWB, you're welcome here ANYTIME! We'll even let you have SME's room and L will let you try out his grill.
Squirl, it's the biggest single-wide they make.
Nobody's EVER accused me of being "normal". I guess that's why I love my blogfriends so much! ;)
I like your home just fine, its warm, comfortable and I'm looking forward to the next time we drop in...
Me too Doug!!
We also have MEAT, EGGS, and CHEESE! ;)
Debt interest is the least painful thing to cut out of your budget. It is not money which buys you anything -- only the creditors benefit from that expenditure. People are AMAZED at what you can afford once you are out of debt. Saving all of that monthly interest adds substantially to your income. A penny saved is a penny earned.
People need to stop thinking in terms of monthly payments, and start thinking about lifetime money management. There is a finite amount, we know not what, of money that we will receive in a lifetime. We need to plan expenditures and savings with an eye toward net worth.
Your net worth FAR outstrips that of most Americans. Most people checkout at the funeral home in debt. Just being on the plus side is the dream of many with six-figure salaries. You are well above being on the plus side. Actually, many paupers are rich when measured by the favorite index of the wealthy: net worth.
Welcome back Sage; I MISSED you!! How's the new puppy?
Thanks for the vote of confidence.
Our most important financial guideline has always been to NEVER risk losing the roof over our heads. For this reason, we've never overextended ourselves, credit-wise.
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